Re: Bug#353277: ndiswrapper in main
Michael Poole <mdpoole@troilus.org> writes:
> Under the default configuration the last time I installed Debian, the
> contrib section is not used; arguing that some future technical change
> might change that behavior leaves the issue open until that change is
> actually made.
As I have said, we should (in my opinion) fix the installer to allow
the use of contrib packages. As I have repeatedly said, however, this
is irrelevant to the question of whether ndiswrapper meets the tests
for main rather than contrib, because those tests do not refer to such
things as "convenience for the installer" and the like. This may mean
that the tests should be changed, of course.
> Fixing a main->contrib error is likely to require much
> greater effort and debate than a libdevel->lib error, since Policy
> defines the distinction between main and contrib but not the one
> between libdevel and devel. Personally, the effort to fix the error
> is why I prefer to decide a grey area sooner rather than later.
Policy does specify that packages belong in the correct sections,
actually.
> The suggestion that wrongly putting a package in contrib is the kind
> of error that one can live with seems like little more than a way to
> push it into contrib without addressing the question of whether or not
> it actually belongs there.
Um, I actually have no opinion right now about whether ndiswrapper
belongs in main or contrib. I haven't got enough facts to
understand. I'm trying to understand the question, and one oddity is
that some people seem to think it's *extremely important* in a way
which is out of kilter with the issues as I understand them. This
suggests to me that I must be missing something, so I'd like to know
why it's *extremely important*.
In other words, if it is "pushed into contrib", what bad things
happen? If the answer is "none", then why the level of anger I've
seen in this thread?
Thomas
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